into the lives of everyday people and the issues they have faced over time. This is particularly true for 18th and 19th century Mexico. One area that these paintings have documented over time is that of diseases and their treatments. Many depictions take place in the home where doctors and family members are in attendance. Settings also include hospitals and operating rooms where doctors and nurses can be seen using surgical instruments and other medical equipment. Beginning in the 20th century, more contemporary issues such as immigration have been represented in these paintings and studied. Many of these paintings show the problems faced by immigrants as they cross the border and live in a new culture. In Bolivia, the Mexican government sponsored an exhibition of 41 contemporary votive painting artists’ works in that country's national museum of art, called “El exvoto religioso y sus opciones contemporáneas” (The religious ex voto and its contemporary options). Past Mexican artists such as Frida Kahlo, Roberto Montenegro, Diego Rivera, Juan O'Gorman and David Alfaro Siqueiros have used elements of these paintings in their own work. The influence of ex-votos is very clear in Frida Kahlo's Portrait of Wilhelm Kahlo, in which she writes about her father in text under his portrait, separated by a line. Today, individual artists from diverse cultural backgrounds draw creative inspiration from this popular art form. One such artist is Francisco Larios Osuna who creates painting in the votive form to document events from his own life as well as the lives of people he knows. However, unlike traditional votive paintings, these works are created by and for the artists and not for the subject of the piece. His work has been commissioned by the Mexican government and can be seen in the consulates located in Los Angeles, Miami, Houston and Brownsville . Another area where the influence of votive paintings can be seen in mural work and other art in the west and southwest United States. The large number of votive paintings that have been left at churches and other locations has led to, in some cases, literally large piles of them on floors, left without care. While visiting a church in Guadalupe, Zacatecas in 1917, Siqueiros came across such a pile. Finding one of paper that especially interested him discarded on the floor, he thought nothing of taking it with him. However, a priest of the church denounced